A distributed antenna system extends wireless communications with a network base station to areas that the network base station cannot adequately reach. In a typical configuration, the distributed antenna system receives wireless signals from the network base station into a base antenna system. The base antenna system produces a stronger and cleaner version of the received signal and transfers this cleaned-up version to a set of coverage antenna systems. The coverage antenna systems are placed at various locations that may be too distant from the network base station or that are shielded from the network base station by structural materials. The coverage antenna systems wirelessly transfer the signals to user communication devices at their location.
In a reciprocal fashion, the coverage antenna systems receive wireless signals from the user devices and transfer these signals to the base antenna system. The base antenna system wirelessly transfers these signals to the network base station. Thus, the distributed antenna system operates as a two-way wireless repeater between the user communication devices and the network base station.
The network base station wirelessly broadcasts a pilot signal to enable user communication devices to find and access the base station. The pilot signal is typically defined by frequency and protocol to identify the base station. The user devices include lists with prioritized pilot signal information that they use to look for various pilot signals. If a given user device receives a pilot signal with adequate signal strength, then the user device responds with an access request based on information from the pilot signal. The network may respond to the access request with an access grant and then provide wireless communication service to the user device. If the network does not respond to the access request within a time period, the user device will attempt to receive the next pilot signal in the prioritized list.
In a distributed antenna system scenario, the base antenna system receives the pilot signal from the network base station and the coverage antennas wirelessly re-broadcast the pilot signal to the user devices. The coverage antenna systems wirelessly receive the corresponding access requests from the user devices, and the base antenna system wirelessly transfers these access requests to the network base station. The base antenna system wirelessly receives the access grants (if any) from the network base station, and the coverage antenna systems wirelessly transfer these access grants to the user devices. These user devices then engage in communication sessions with remote systems and users over the distributed antenna system and the network base station.
When a user device needs to determine its geographic location, the device may use a Global Position Satellite (GPS) system to detect satellite signals and determine location. In some cases, wireless communication networks perform a triangulation process based on signal strength or signal delay to various base stations to locate user devices. A position determination system may also be used. User devices transfer data to the position determination system including GPS data and the signal strengths of recently received pilot signals. The position determination system processes the data to determine locations and provide location information to requesting devices.